Since getting shut down by Norton ace Kelly Nelson, the Hillers have won three straight, including a 6-3 victory over Tri-Valley League foe Millis.

By Kevin J. Stone/Daily News Correspondent

HOPKINTON — For anyone worried about the Hopkinton softball team following an 11-run loss to Norton back on May 11, the Hillers have quickly made that tough day an afterthought now.

Since getting shut down by Norton ace Kelly Nelson, the Hillers have won three straight, including a 6-3 victory over Tri-Valley League foe Millis on Friday afternoon.

With the win, Hopkinton moves to 14-2 overall on the year and 12-1 in the TVL. Millis saw its three-game win streak come to an end while falling to 8-8 overall and 6-8 in the league.

"I knew what we had, and that Norton game was just a day where we got beat by a better team, and I think the girls have responded accordingly," said Hopkinton coach Scott Soderberg. "Everyone comes out with their best against us and that's the way it should be.

"We knew Millis would be a battle today and it was. That's a well-coached team and we had to fight to get the win today."

Trailing 3-0 following a three-run top of the third for Millis, Hopkinton responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 3-3.

It stayed that way until the bottom of the fifth where the Hillers plated three runs to take the 6-3 lead.

Kaitlyn Holly got the fifth started for Hopkinton with a leadoff single and Maille Bennett reached on a bunt. That brought up Hillers starting pitcher Heather Holly, who reached on an infield single while Kaitlyn Holly scored and Bennett took second. Lindsay Whittles followed with an RBI fielder's choice to second, scoring Bennett to make it 5-3 while Heather Holly was erased at second.

After an Emma Murphy single and a Madison Abbott pop out to short, Julia DiBenedetto made it 6-3 with an RBI single to center, scoring Whittles.

"Our energy has just been a lot better since that Norton game," said Heather Holly. "I think that game was just a wakeup call. I think it made us realize there are teams here that can beat us, not that we didn't know that Norton was a very good team, but it just made us kind of refocus and get ourselves right mentally for the stretch run."

Millis grabbed its 3-0 lead in the top of the third.

Amanda Guindon led off with an infield single and Alex Hill reached on a bunt. After Heather Holly (7 IP, 3 R, 1 BB, 11 K) got a strikeout and a pop out back to herself, Emily Walewicz reached on an infield single to load the bases. Hannah Finley stepped up next and appeared to hit a lazy fly ball to right that would end the inning, but it was dropped as the bases cleared to make it 3-0 before Heather Holly finally got a groundout to end the inning.

The Hillers struck back in the bottom of the inning to make it 3-3.

Jill Ceddia led off with a double to right center field and Katelyn Sylvester came as a pinch runner. Emily Whelan was up next and reached on an error on a ball to second that also allowed Sylvester to score to make it 3-1. Kaitlyn Holly followed with an RBI single to right scoring Whelan, cutting the deficit to just 3-2.

After a fly out to right and a pop out to Millis starter Abby Doyle, Whittles came through with an RBI single to right, scoring Kaitlyn Holly to tie the game at 3-3.

"We had a rough first half of the year, but we're 4-2 in the second half of our season and can take a lot of positives out of today," said Millis coach R.J. Maturo. "We're battling and just need to get a little sharper before tournament time."

As for the Hillers, the loss to Norton was just a hiccup. Hopkinton is now on a roll heading into the final few games of the regular season.

"I like that we fight every time we take the field," said Soderberg. "These girls are very passionate about the game and love being around each other, and I think that serves us well moving forward."